EU in disarray as key vote is halted

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The European Commission president-elect, Jose Manuel Barroso,
was yesterday forced into a humiliating last-minute backdown to
prevent Europe's parliamentarians voting out his new cabinet before
it had taken office.

Mr Barroso withdrew his team of commissioners from a necessary
approval vote by the European Parliament in Strasbourg after it
became clear he would be defeated.

European MPs have vehemently opposed the appointment of a
conservative Italian MP, Rocco Buttiglione, as the new justice
commissioner after he called homosexuality a sin and suggested that
single women made bad mothers.

The vote delay throws the European Commission into disarray and
the retiring president, Italian Romano Prodi, has agreed to stay on
as caretaker.

The new commission, the first of the newly expanded 25-member
European Union, was to start work next week.

Mr Barroso, in a dramatic announcement about an hour before the
vote, said he needed more time to deal with the objections of MEPs
and formulate a new team. "I have come to the conclusion that if
the vote is taken today, the outcome will not be positive for EU
institutions or for the European project," he said. "In these
circumstances, I have decided not to submit the new European
Commission for your approval today."

Mr Barroso said he would consult with European leaders and put
forward a new commission in a few weeks.

He is now expected either to withdraw Mr Buttiglione's
nomination or move him to another portfolio.

Mr Buttiglione is expected to come under intense pressure to
resign.

By law the parliament was supposed to approve the new commission
by October 31 so it could take office on November 1.

The vote delay is a win for the parliament's Socialist bloc,
whose leader, the German MEP Martin Schulz, called the outcome "a
victory for the European Parliament, especially for my group".

Despite last-minute arm-twisting, Mr Barroso had also lost
support for Mr Buttiglione from the Greens, Communists and the
important centrist Liberal bloc in the 732- member parliament.

Even conservative MEPs were said to be uneasy about the
divisions caused by Mr Buttiglione, a close friend of the Italian
Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and the Vatican.

Mr Barroso had previously refused to back down over the
Buttiglione affair and agree to a mini reshuffle to save the entire
commission. But he failed to win over sufficient MEPs to guarantee
a victory.

Under European rules, the parliament must accept or reject the
entire new commission and cannot oppose any individual.

Mr Barroso had enlisted the help of national leaders, including
Britain's Tony Blair and Germany's Gerhard Schroder, in an attempt
to break opposition to Mr Buttiglione and ensure his new team could
start work next week.

Instead, the backdown marks a disastrous start for the new
European Commission, the expanded 25-member EU, and Mr Barroso's
five-year tenure as president.